Finesse
by Pepsi Dew
Summary: Mike wants to distract himself, but how?  Story in progress.
1. Chapter 1: A Lonely Road

**From the author: **I don't own Glee, Ryan Murphy and his gang in Fox does. :) English ain't my first language, so there may be grammar errors - I apologize! If the feedback is good, I'll continue this story, otherwise it will just have to stay as a one-shot. :s

* * *

><p>The ball bounced at a rhythm. Something that was foreign in football. His sweaty hands gripped tightly around the orange basketball; He concentrated, aimed and took a shot. The ball bounced off the backboard, teetered around the hoop and dropped through the cottoned net with a swish.<p>

He gave out a long sigh.

The school's basketball court was empty and dim, with only a few lights switched on. He picked up the ball and went to the stands where his duffle bag sat. He took out a small towel and wiped his face and neck dry, while he quenched his thirst with the cold bottle of water he bought earlier. Watching the huge clock in the auditorium ticking, he saw that it was nearly 5 o'clock. Mike wasn't really sure what time they lock up the school, but at that moment, he didn't really care.

He slung his bag over his shoulder and headed for the showers. It was eerily dim, the light above his head flickered, casting quick shadows against the corridor. The boys' locker room smelled of stale sweat which Mike was used to, he set down his bag on one of the benches and undressed himself, turning on the shower in one of the cubicles.

It has been two weeks since he became single. The thought of it left a bitter taste in his mouth as he pictured Tina back with Artie. He would be lying if he said that he didn't feel animosity towards Artie, at the same time, Mike somehow accepted the fact that Tina and Artie were… meant to be. He clenched his fist, shut his eyes as he stood under the torrent of hot water.

He was happy when he was with Tina, but at the same time, he had that fear when he was with her. Fear of losing her so quickly - and that was what happened.

After thoroughly shampooing his hair and soaping his body, he cleaned and dried himself.

He left the auditorium area, rolling back his sleeves up to his elbow and checked his cellphone; 6:25pm. He wound up at the corridor where the glee club room was. To his surprise, it was still lit, the strip of light from the rectangular window of the door illuminated a section of the hallway.

The teenager approached the room slowly and peered through the vertical window on the door. Behind the piano was Quinn Fabray and she was playing a simple piece of music. Part of him wanted to leave her alone, as her face etched with deep sadness and loneliness. Mike knew it was hard for her, being dumped twice in a year, having to burden pregnancy, stripped off from the Cheerios twice. At the same time, he knew what it was like to feel so alone in the world that sometimes a friendly company was the only thing that could help.

He wrenched the door open and she immediately looked up, looking alarmed. Quinn quickly stood up, thinking that it might be a burglar or someone dangerous.

"Don't come any closer! I have pepper spray!"

Mike hurriedly threw up his hands, "Whoa! Chill. It's… It's only me."

She recognized that voice and her eyes finally focused on the tall stranger.

"Oh, Mike…"

"Yup, it's me, the Changster."

They looked at each other and they both knew, in their heads, asking each other, _What are you doing here?_

Mike put his bag down on an empty chair of the choir room and walked towards the piano, while Quinn sat back down.

"You've been here the whole time?" asked Mike, leaning forward against the black shiny instrument.

Quinn nodded, her fingers sweeping the white and black keys, "Was trying to take my mind off of things. Clearly didn't work."

He knew it, she came here for solitude. There was a sense of tension afterwards, the awkwardness that came when none of them knew what to say. The girl looked up at him, his face trying to mask the emotional heartache. She suddenly knew why he was still at school. They both lost important people, stranded on a deserted island with no one to help them.

"Come and sit with me," said Quinn.

He obeyed and went around the piano. As he sat next to her, Quinn caught a whiff of fresh fragrance from him, as though he recently stepped out of the shower.

"You play?" asked the black-haired teenager.

"A little bit," replied the blonde, "My mother used to teach me simple pieces like 'Twinkle Twinkle Little Star' or 'Mary Had A Little Lamb'. Though I wished she had taught me more complex ones."

"I'll teach you a simple piano piece. Easy to learn and it's definitely one of those music where you can just play it and easily impress people with it," he brushed his fingertips upon the surface of the keys, the familiarity of the huge instrument under his power, he muttered, "Fur Elise."

Mike started playing the piano with grace, with both hands, his fingers fluently hitting the notes. The sound travelled, reverberating from within, a harmonious melody flowed and transfixed in the air around them.

Quinn, fixated by the skill Mike revealed before her. She couldn't help but scowl at him.

"Are you showing off to me, Chang?" she asked, a little too coldly.

He stopped playing ending the music with garbled, jumbled up notes, "I'm-I'm sorry?"

"You're trying to impress me," she said sternly.

"I'm not…" he faltered, suddenly looking lost. "It's just been a long time since I haven't played the piano. I've forgotten how overwhelming it was to play such a beautiful thing."

Guilt shot through her body as she heard the hurt in his voice. Sometimes she detested the way she was too accusing. Quinn had to be, she could never be too careful around boys. However, right then, she was feeling slightly regretful.

"OK, then, so show me how to play," she said quietly, it was the closest thing she could say to an apology.

He smiled.


	2. Chapter 2: Illy Willy

The next day Mike arrived at school, heading for his locker at the corner of the corridor. Along the way, he saw Tina and Artie talking to each other. The Asian girl caught his eyes and tried to smile at him, but Mike was still uneasy whenever he saw her, all he could do was walk on.

A small scowl formed on his forehead, something that was done unconsciously by him. When he finally reached his locker, to his surprise he saw Quinn Fabray, standing next to it. Even though she was leaning against it, her eyes travelled to an unsuspecting pair across the hallway; Sam and Santana, having their own intimate moment.

"Morning, Quinn," Mike finally said.

Her eyes swiftly stared up at him, "Sorry, I was… distracted." She practically choked on the last word.

"Yeah, I can see that," he muttered. "Look, Quinn, you shouldn't torture yourself like that."

She ignored him, but afterwards turned her attention towards the tall Asian boy in front of her. She stepped away from where she was leaning and stood to the left, letting him open the compartment in front of him.

"I've to thank you," Quinn said as she watched him taking a book from his locker. She subconsciously noticed how tidy it was and decorated so simply with a small, red lantern hanging from the locker door.

Zipping up his white shoulder bag, he raised his eyebrows, "For what?"

"For yesterday, thank you for keeping me company, it was a nice change from being all mopey and depressed."

He shut his locker and patted her shoulder, "It's fine."

The bell rang and the mob of students around them started rushing into their respective classrooms and Mike dashing off to his class, giving the girl a small wave, "I'll see you later in glee club."

She watched him weave the crowd, his blue cardigan stood out from the rest, complimenting his high-top blue sneakers. He soon disappeared from her sight and at that moment, that sense of loneliness struck her. She wheeled around and went for her Math class.

Brittany sat next to her, looking blankly at her notebook propped on the table.

"I don't understand why we have to learn Egyptian hieroglyphics…"

Quinn frowned at her in disbelief, "Brittany, they're not hieroglyphics, we're learning algebra."

"I don't even know what that is. Is that a moldy bra?"

There was no answer from Quinn.


	3. Chapter 3: A Jump Start

The bell rang and the day was about to end. She half-dreaded going to glee club, only because she didn't want to witness another round of Sam and Santana eating each other's faces.

Entering the room, she saw Mercedes, Tina, Artie, Mike and Puck. She was welcomed with a "hello" and she found an empty seat next to Mike, making the maroon chair creak as she sat down.

"How were your classes?" asked Mike casually.

"Do you really want to know?" she replied flatly.

He chuckled, "Guess not. Mine was great, by the way."

He reached inside his bag and pulled out a piece of paper, Quinn saw, written on top of the page in bright red ink; _F_. He flicked the corner of the page where the grade was with his finger, "Geography."

"Geography?"

"The teacher failed me because I was making and throwing paper planes during the test," he said, with a hint of guilt.

"And why in the world would you do that in the first place?"

"Uh… because I finished my test before anyone else did, so I was bored," said Mike and then he laughed, "I know. Lame reason."

Just then, Sam and Santana entered the room, the blond's arm around her shoulders, followed by the rest of the glee club members. Mike sensed the uneasiness from Quinn as she watched the couple sat down in front of them. In front of her! Mike took a glance at the blonde girl's reaction, it was just as he expected, she looked murderous.

Thankfully Mr. Schuester burst into the room with a satisfied smile on his face and that drew Quinn away from doing anything silly to the two people in front of her (like strangling them).

"We're going to do something fun today, guys!" Mr. Schue said with his usual enthusiastic tone.

"Are we doing a musical number from _Cats_?" Rachel looked up, her eyes hopeful.

"Uh, no. We are going to do something even better."

Mr. Schue whipped out a whiteboard marker from his coat pocket and wrote on the board: _'INTERNATIONAL'_ and he underlined the word, the pen squeaking as it dragged across the surface.

The students looked at each other, puzzled by the lone word written in front of them.

"We are going to do international songs. We've been too focused on songs that we are comfortable with in our native language," explained the teacher, "but now I want you guys to explore the world."

There was a great chatter of feedback from the members.

"There are some great music out there that are not common here in the States. Ever heard of Bollywood?" Mr. Schue continued.

Surprisingly, Rachel gave a loud gasp, a smile forming across her face.

"My dads rented some Bollywood movies few years back and although the stories are cliched and overly cheesy, their expression in musical arts were fantastic! From costumes to music to the settings. The cinematic effects: simply amazing, with the dance routines so intricate and so rich with culture and tradition that everything about it is just so-" Rachel started on her monologue, but as usual, before everything became overwhelming, Mr. Schue interrupted her.

"OK, Rachel, thank you. Well said, but remember, it's not only about Bollywood," the older man replied, "Explore the ends of the world, you would be surprised how music is universally spread out with their own unique qualities about them. Do your research and in our next session, we'll see what you guys can come up with."

Tina, who was sitting in the front row, looked back to where Mike was sitting. She met his eyes and both of them knew what they were thinking. They were both Asian and they knew that doing Asian songs together would please Mr. Schue. More than anything, Mike wanted to do the assignment together with her, something about his self-respected oriental roots stirred inside him.

However, when Artie turned to her, she broke their eye contact and reverted her attention to the boy in the wheelchair. Miffed, Mike stuffed his hands in the pockets of his hooded-sweater.

"I believe Finn and Puck has been working on a number for the past week, let's hear it guys." Mr. Schuester said, as he picked up his notebook and sat down next to Rachel, who looked as though someone gave her a can of Redbull, she looked too excited for the upcoming assignment.

* * *

><p>He was inside the familiar place, several lights were on, but it was not bright enough to illuminate the whole gymnasium. The dark orange ball sprung from the backboard and Mike caught it, using the momentum to bounce the ball and doing cross-overs, the ball passing between his muscled legs.<p>

He dribbled the ball as he ran. A jump shot and it went in. He tossed the ball away in frustration and it hit the wall, his anger sailing with it. The teenage boy dragged his feet to the benches, his sneakers squeaking against the waxed floor. His Nike duffel bag was open and he saw his iPod Touch. He scrolled through his playlist and saw a song that wasn't written in English. He played it and what followed was a catchy slow pop tune which he was able to make simple dance steps to.

The chorus had a climactic groove and melody that Mike began to fancy, thus doing slide steps according to the beat. The words that sang out from his iPod were alien to his ears, but the feelings didn't need to be spelled out. It was there, clear as day, a bittersweet memory of a lost love.

He let the song finish, while doing elementary dance moves. It calmed his mind, his anger left him completely as he danced inside the dimly lit basketball court.


	4. Chapter 4: Fiction in Fiction

**Author's Note:** Thank you for the kind reviews that I've been getting. I apologize for what seems like a slow update, but I assure you, I'm not abandoning this story. :) Wooo! As for the songs that I used in this chapter... Take That's _Back For Good_ and a very famous Korean pop group called BEAST with their hit single _Fiction_. Of all things, why K-Pop? Blame their catchiness! After seeing the music video for it, I became quite attached to the dance moves and I thought it would be something that Mike Chang could do with ease. Phew! On with the story...!

* * *

><p>Quinn stepped away from the door that led to the gymnasium. She didn't know how long she stood there, watching the boy dance to a song that she couldn't hear. Yet when she saw his face as he swayed gracefully, he looked peaceful, as if the music had cured him from the darkness he had held earlier when he dribbled the basketball.<p>

Mike was heading towards her direction, where she was idly standing in front of the closed doors. She skittered away, back to the main building of the school, the sun hanging low at five in the afternoon. Quinn stood out of sight as Mike exited the auditorium and to her surprise, he was humming something, a song.

Rarely anyone would hear him sing, as he claims that he's a terrible singer. As he sauntered in the direction of the boys' shower room, she finally heard him sing the words:

_"Got a picture of you beside me_

_Got your lipstick mark still on your coffee cup_

_Got a fist of pure emotion_

_Got a head of shattered dreams_

_Gotta leave it, gotta leave it all behind now…"_

The melody sounded familiar to her ears. However, she was feeling all these different emotions all at once. She discovered that Mike Chang actually _can_ sing. His voice was light and springy, with a slight huskiness to it. She was liking what she was hearing. Jumbled up with her feeling impressed by this new revelation, she was also frustrated at him. Frustrated at the fact that he hid this talent all this while.

As he sang the chorus, she finally realised what song he was singing. It was an old 90s hit song by Take That. She wanted to hear more, but she was out of hearing range. A small smile formed, she initially wanted to attempt Mr. Schue's glee assignment alone, but having heard Mike sing, she might just have found her partner.

The sun was nearly gone when Mike took his time in the showers. Most of the staff and students already left for home, yet he was still in the school compound, intending to go to the choir room to do some intense researching. He opened the door, switched on the lights and went to the small office tucked away at the side of the choir room.

He logged onto the computer and tried to find out what that mysterious song he was dancing to in the gymnasium earlier. He was also curious as to who put it in his iPod. His first suspect was Tina, but it didn't seem plausible as she didn't seem like the type to listen to foreign pop music. She did borrow his iPod a couple of times.

Google was staring at him. He listened to the song once again and typed in the one English word that kept repeating in the chorus: _Fiction_. He pressed the space button and thought for a while. It could be any language. With method of elimination (though it was only eliminating his native language), he tried his luck and typed in the next words: _Korean song._

"Beast?" he muttered, reading the first link that came up. It was linked to a YouTube video. He clicked it and the video loaded. The introduction sounded familiar and he let out a triumphant laugh. He found it!

The boy calmed himself and watched the whole video, impressed by the dance routine. They were simple, but they were smooth and clean. As he continued watching the music clip, he paid more attention to the translation of the song that followed.

Getting up from the chair, he started copying the dance moves, making improvisations as the music continued. Just then, he heard a noise. He whirled around and saw the door to the choir room open.

To his surprise, it was Quinn.

"Don't stop," she said, closing the door behind her and walking towards him. She was holding her books in one hand, her school bag hanging from her shoulder. The Korean song played in the background while he looked at her, puzzled… and somewhat uncomfortably, as she stared back at him.

The catchy chorus started again and by automatic reaction, remembered the dance moves from the video clip. As Quinn watched in amazement as Mike danced in front of her. Her vision was in parallel as she also saw the computer screen behind him, the people in the video, doing the exact same movements. It was accurate to a point and she smiled in amusement.

When the song finished, Mike hung his head, his cheeks were pink from embarrassment. He smiled sheepishly at her.

"You really are one heck of a dancer."

He laughed shyly, trying to hide his smile. He shook is head and reached for the chair, wheeling it towards the blonde girl. Mike gestured for her to sit, while he sat down on the stepped mini-stage.

"You're here again, huh?" asked Mike, taking a sip from his water bottle.

"Yes, but for a completely different reason this time." Her green eyes twinkled, hugging her textbooks. She slowly got up from her seat and walked towards him. Their gaze never breaking from each other. Quinn squatted so that she was eye-level with him.

"Mike Chang."

"Yes?" Suddenly, his heart was hammering inside his chest, quickly noticing how long and beautiful her eyelashes were.

"I want _you_ to be my partner for the glee assignment," said Quinn, her eyes still locked onto his deep, dark brown eyes, where she saw the sparkle of acceptance igniting underneath the brown windows to his soul.


	5. Chapter 5: Hallyu

**A/N:** Sincerest apologies for the long delay. Songs used in this chapter: _BIG BANG_'s _Baby Baby_ and _2NE1_'s_ I AM THE BEST (Japanese Version)_. Not really a huge K-Pop fan, but this will do.

* * *

><p>For that week, they kept themselves distracted with their glee assignment, sometimes staying behind at school to practice their dance routine and at other times, they would go to each other's place to practice their singing. They found a song, which wasn't an easy task do. Both of them had their heads buried inside Asian Pop magazines, or if otherwise their eyes would be glued to their laptop screens, scrolling through endless songs of Korean pop music videos. They finally picked, not one, but two songs; they were upbeat, bass-blasting, pop music that sent music grooves down Mike Chang's spine. Since Mike was more on the tech-savvy side, he was the one who worked on mashing up the music together to make it seem seamless and perfect to the ears.<p>

Their audience looked quizzically at them when their names were announced to step out front and present their assignment to the class. They were an unusual pairing to begin with, but their outfit overwhelmed them all. They were wearing heavy leather jackets with quite a number of silver pointy objects protruding from the spaulders. They had chains strapped around their waists. Complementing the dark, shiny tones, were bright accessories around their wrists. Quinn had pink highlights in her blonde hair, while Mike had his hair turned shockingly silver-grey. Their outfit ended with glittering high-top Jeremy Scott's Adidas sneakers.

They didn't know it, but they literally made the room into a party. The song they performed started off with a wave of hard-hitting bass. And the lyrics, despite being in Korean and the occasional Japanese, the words were pronounced as if they were naturals. Luckily for the audience, half of the song was also in English.

Nearing to the end of the mash-up number, they had the audience dance with them, getting down to the infectious catchy pop music; their laughing faces made Mike happy. He caught Tina looking at him and she gave him a gesture - a half-nod and a small smile. When the music stopped, Quinn and Mike gave a bow, to which the audience responded with a tumultuous applause.

"Wow! Mike, Quinn, that was amazing!" cried out Mr. Schue, as he got up from the seat he sat with the other glee kids. "What was that? And, why did you decide to do that amazing number?"

"We just did a genre called K-Pop, which stands for Korean Pop," started Quinn, smiling at her partner. "It made it twice as fun, seeing that I'm not Asian to begin with."

"Yeah, and apparently, K-Pop's the biggest thing throughout Asia right now, so we decided to give you all a taste of why it's gained so much popularity in the east," continued Mike, beaming at the rest of his friends.

* * *

><p>"So what <em>really <em>made you do Korean Pop?" Tina's voice spoke quietly behind Mike. Most of the glee members were there, walking down the corridor in a group, wanting to go home after a tiring, but fun day.

Mike slowed his pace down so that Tina was beside him.

"There was this song in my iPod, it was strange, I don't know how it got in there," started Mike. He pulled out his iPod Touch from his pocket and scrolled to find that one song with the Hangul letterings.

"Ah… Fiction, isn't it?" said Tina, as she saw the song title on the screen of the tiny gadget.

Mike frowned, "How'd you know?"

There was a pause.

"Because I was the one who put that song in there."

The teenage boy froze, making Quinn and Mercedes bump into him. Tina waited for him to recover, while the head cheerleader looked at him quizzically, but continued walking with Mercedes.

When he got his voice back, there was only one word that escaped from his mouth, "Why?"

"The song reminded me of you, of us. It felt like a fairytale and I wanted to share that feeling that I couldn't express in words… and there it was, a song that was perfect for how I feel," said Tina. "If you're curious on how I found a Korean song like that, then you can blame my cousin. My cousin stayed over one day and she was gushing on and on about these K-Pop idols. They're really not my cup of tea, but Fiction was an exception."

_Made sense,_ Mike shrugged. It certainly answered most of his questions.

"You did a great job on that number, Mike. Even if it was with Quinn."

"What's that supposed to mean?" he asked, cautiously.

"We both know that you and I would have killed it," she said, as though she was pressing him.

"You're with Artie." Mike said, bluntly.

"It's just an assignment! Not a dating service!"

They both glared at each other. They were still standing at the corridor of the school where the lockers were located. It was mostly empty, the other glee kids went on their merry way, leaving Tina and Mike at an awkward situation.

"Look, I don't want it to turn out like this, like spoilt milk," said the girl, looking up at him because of his height, "Can't we at least stay as friends?"

Mike, who was looking anywhere but her then, decided to look squarely into her eyes. He clenched his jaw, trying to not give away his surprise when he saw that her eyes were glistening with… tears? He managed to give a nod without thinking.

"Friends, it is."

The tense atmosphere seemed to drop a little and she sighed in relief. Quite the opposite it was for him. He disliked being awkward whenever he saw her, but he still could not drop his guard. Yet, now that it was out in the open, he didn't have to worry about having to avoid looking at her, or talking to her, or something.

She moved closer to him and gave him a hug, he tensed up.

"Thank you," she whispered.

* * *

><p>Quinn was standing alone near the school bus stop. She gave him a smile when they made eye contact. Her long skirt ruffled against the light wind, it also made her blonde hair cover half her face.<p>

"What was that about?" she asked in a light tone, still smiling, but Mike caught the slight stiffness in her voice.

The teenager contemplated whether he should tell her the whole story or spare her the details. After a brief silence, he gave her the short version, feeling like he was not up for talking so much. He never was in the first place.

"So you two patched it up and now you're friends. Just like that?" She said, a little less cold.

He nodded.

"But it's still bothering you," she said slowly.

His eyes cast down to the ground, realising that what she said was not a question, but a statement. He nodded again. She spoke the truth and Mike still did not know the answer why he felt that way. Was it because he was still in love with Tina? Instead of untangling these feelings, they became knotted even tighter. Then he asked himself, why did he even agree in being 'friends' with Tina in the first place anyway? The answer came rushing like a bolt of lightning: Because he did not want to lose her, lovers or not.

…Maybe he _was_ still in love with Tina.

_Crap_, he thought, ignoring the intense look Quinn was giving him.


End file.
